Banish golf related back pain!

2 hidden connections between your swing and lower back!

Although there are an unlimited number of ways for us to get lower back pain, there’s only two hidden connections between our bodies and our golf swing that contribute to lower back pain. If you’ve been experiencing lower back pain while playing golf you’ve likely noticed those effortless swings, crisp drives down the fairway, and even the pain-free rounds are becoming harder to come by.

Nagging injuries, declining distance and watching our playing partners outplay us are not just frustrating—they can feel like a barrier between us and the game we love. The good news: we can reclaim our past golfing glory, enjoy pain-free play, and take our performance to new heights. 

The answer lies in understanding the fundamental movements a golfer makes during a swing and the person on the end of the club—you. If golf is more than a hobby for you, it’s worth understanding these connections so that you can pursue specific strategies, covered below, to reduce (if not eliminate) your golf related lower back pain!

What 2 things cause golf related lower back pain?

1. Modern day lifestyle meets the golf swing!

On one hand, we are sitting down more than any other time in history with the average adult sitting for nine hours a day, which contributes to why our bodies feel stiff and sluggish as ever*. The seated position, and lack of moving around, makes the muscles in our body weaker and less able to function optimally, particularly around our hips, shoulders and ankles. 

We then take our bodies which have been sitting more than ever and make them do 10,000+ plus steps, standing on our feet for the most part of 4-5 hours over 18 holes it’s unsurprising that our body and lower back can get achy and sore*.

On the other hand, the demands of the golf swing have remained essentially the same – use our body to wind up and unwind rotating powerfully into impact position, with downswings happening in less than half a second, typically 0.2 to 0.4 seconds.

*Our bodies don’t feel this way if we plan ahead, prepare and train for the demands of golf.

2. Our lower back is the “hero” doing the heavy lifting for other “lazy” body parts.

Simply put, golf related lower back pain comes from too much force put through the lower back.

Let me explain:

• The challenge is to NOT put a square peg (our lower back) into a round hole (our rotational based high speed golf swing).The lower back is great at bending forward and backwards, but not amazing at rotating (average 15 degrees of rotation). In contrast your thoracic spine (upper back) averages 45 degrees rotation**.
  

• On your backswing the lower back will be in extension (backward bending, arched lower back position). An optimum impact position on your downswing, the lower back goes into flexion (a forward bending, tail tucked under between your legs position). For now remember
  • Backward bending = extension and happens on the backswing
  • Forward bending = flexion and happens at impact on the downswing
    

• When we go from too big of a backward to forward bending movement on our downswing in under half a second we put a lot of force through our lower back which can then result in lower back pain.
  

• Perhaps you won’t feel back pain for a number of swings, however when you repeat this movement pattern 35-55 times per round, we compound the problem and our body can only tolerate this movement for so long. Often this is why the back 9, around the 13th hole onward, is where we find most people experience their golf related lower back pain.
  

• Typically the pain will be on the right hand side for a right handed golfer irritating the facet joints to the side of your lower back (lumbar) vertebrae, vice versa for a left handed golfer. This has to do with the right hand side bend*** that occurs on your downswing at impact position.
  

Experiment: Can you imagine yourself in a standing position and going from a backward bending position (looking up at the roof) to a forward bending position (touching towards your toes) in half a second? Now add rotation and our current lifestyle on top of this and you have a recipe for golf related lower back pain. 

Note: The average person doesn’t train for this movement, let alone do this 35-55 times over 4-5 hours at any other time throughout the day. Don’t get me started on those who hit 100’s of drivers at the driving range!

**These averages are in healthy people
***Imagine bending to your side from standing, hand towards the side of your knee

The 2 hidden connections

How to diagnose the cause of our golf related lower back pain?

Now it’s time to discover the two hidden connections that cause the sub optimal movements described above that lead to our golf related lower back pain. 

Understanding our body and golf swing characteristics first will help us be able to make sense of the specific strategies to reduce (or eliminate) our golf related lower back pain.  

1. Sub optimal starting position:
   • Having an excessive curve in your spine at your set up position is giving you a handicap (making the game harder) before you even take the club back an inch. The reason is that a curve increases the likelihood of excessive extension to flexion lower back motion, placing additional force through your lower back and consequent pain. There’s two common spine curves to look out for.
     1. The first is called S Posture, which is when looking down the target line your spine is in a “S” looking shape with an arch in your lower back, with roundedness through your upper back.
        
     2. The second is called C posture, which is when looking down the target line your spine is in a “C” looking shape, with roundedness through your upper back (no arch in lower back). Due to your upper back not being able to rotate optimally your body finds the lower back for the rotation as a work-around.
        
2. Hips thrusting forward, not rotating:
   • When your hips thrust towards the ball on your downswing this swing characteristic is called Early Extension.
   • When looking at your swing down the target line, you can draw a line vertically up from your heel. From here you should see your backside to the left hand side of the line at your set up position (for a right handed golfer). Now fast forward the swing to your impact position. Do you see less hip/backside to the left of the line? If your answer is “Yes”, you have the Swing Characteristic called Early Extension which is strongly linked to golf related lower back pain as it’s an exaggeration “going from too much extension to flexion”

Experiment: Get into your golf set up position, keeping the club behind the ball, step a couple of inches closer to the ball and see what it feels like. Feel cramped? Did you have to bend your arms or stand taller to accommodate? Essentially this is what is happening at impact-position on your downswing when you’re early extending.

Compounding problems of having being cramped on our downswing

Early extension feels like there’s no room on the downswing to keep the club on plane so not only do we put high chances of teeing ourselves up to have golf related lower back pain, we also bring in a host of other swing related problems that reduce our distance and ability to consistently strike the ball well.

• These swing characteristics all flow on primarily as symptoms of Early Extension –the lower back pain movement on our downswing. As our hips are now occupying space closer to the golf ball we need to swing the club on a different plane. The default is a steeper swing plane called an Over The Top swing pattern, where the club swings from outside-to-in across the ball creating slices (left to right spin on the ball) and slight fades at best. If you play with a slice there’s a good chance your Over The Top swing characteristic is coming from Early Extension. 
• With our hips thrusting rather than rotating on the downswing (Early Extension) we also commonly see the hips Slide, which from front-on looks like your hips go towards the target. Our bodies are incredible at finding work-arounds, with sliding a natural and common work-around in an attempt to generate power on our downswing. In a simple sense our brain thinks, “I am not good/familiar at rotating through my hips due to my modern day lifestyle but I can thrust them forward and slide them to the left to generate power”.
  
• Due to less room for your arms and club to swing through impact position, plus potentially sliding your hips to the target, we often see golfers having to do a Casting/Scooping motion at impact, in a sense trying to steer the ball straight. At its extreme this continues into another swing characteristic called Chicken Winging where the left arm in a right handed golfer is bent at impact-position (or a few frames after) which again leads to a greater loss in power and higher levels of inconsistent ball striking.

How to fix our golf related lower back pain?

Find Rotation from Areas That Aren’t Our Lower Back.

Redirecting the force going through our lower back to other joints that are better built for rotation like our hip joints, upper back and ankles is a super solution for reducing our golf related lower back pain.

1. Overcoming Sub optimal starting position:
   • Getting into a neutral starting position – not excessive curves in spine – is often the best first step to reducing golf related lower back pain. There’s a hidden two-for-one here for those with S posture for when we get our lower backs in a neutral position we allow for 1) our lower backs to stay in a safer, happier range of lower back extension and flexion and 2) our hip joints are able to rotate further when our lower back is in a neutral position. 
   • Programs to get you into a neutral starting (set-up) position focus on 
     1. Posture awareness drills, including pelvic tilting from extension to flexion and finding a neutral position
     2. Strengthening of core and glute muscles, and stretching of muscles restricting movement (e.g. hip flexors) to then make the above more optimal set up position feel easy and comfortable
2. Stopping hips thrusting forward:

• • “It’s alllllll in the hips.” Chubb from Happy Gilmore was on the right track and we’ve discussed briefly above how using the hips to generate rotation in the golf swing – specifically turning into your left hip on your downswing – helps you to maintain your lower back in a happy position. Your glute muscles (your back pockets) are the biggest muscle group in your entire body and are king of the golf swing. Get these muscles working more effectively and your lower back will be much happier, however your playing partners won’t be as you begin to hit the ball further with ease!
  • A close second place to freeing up your hips, is your upper back (thoracic spine). It often tends to round forward the more decades we’ve been on the planet and the more forward based tech time we have (i.e. phone, computers etc). This forward rounding reduces the rotation it’s capable of doing. Exercises which help you to reverse the hunched back and increase upper body rotation – redirecting force away from the lower back – will lead to less pain and a more powerful swing.
  • Lastly, restricted ankles bias us towards thrusting our hips forward and standing up at impact positon on your downswing, rather than being able to rotate through our ankle or foot joints. Given our feet are the only contact with the ground, it’s worth looking into optimising how they are interacting with the ground beneath them. Assessing how much shin (tibia) rotation and ankle mobility (dorsiflexion) you have can signal if you’re losing rotation through your ankles. Adding specific stretches and strengthening exercises around your calves will tackle this problem nicely!

What you can do to banish your golf related lower back pain forever!

1. Identify and understand what swing characteristics you have and how they are contributing to your lower back pain.
   • We can do this for you here. It is FREE, however spots are limited.
2. Have a simple, yet specific, golf exercise program that assists you to reduce the load through your lower back in your golf swing. Primarily through optimising your set up position and increasing rotation to the three keys to reducing golf related lower back pain – hips, upper back and ankle. The exercises in the program would be targeted to help your body rotate with quick (stretches) and long term (strength) strategies in place to help improve the muscles and movements that are holding you back.
   • We can do this with you via our 12 week Move Better Play Better Golf program which builds your Golf Body Blueprint and Forever Set of Golf Exercises
     
   • Alternatively you can start upgrading your most important piece of golf equipment, your body, for free by joining our Move Better Play Better Community
3. Other ideas that could positively assist the above two strategies would be: 
   • Manage the amount of golf you’re playing
   • Check equipment is suited to your swing and body
   • Get a lesson from a coach who understands your movement limitations and is happy to work with them (i.e.not a “my way or the highway” style)

Know someone struggling with golf related lower back pain? Share the good news that it doesn’t have to be this way and forward this to them.

Happy golfing,

Ben Taylor
Helped hundreds of golfers (and counting) over the past 8 years
Level 3 Golf Medical Expert at Titleist Performance Institute
Creator of Move Better Play Better Golf program